Rest assured, Akana’s absence is not ‘nothing’

Don’t let anyone tell you assistant basketball coach Brandyn Akana’s absence from the University of Hawaii bench is "nothing," as head coach Gib Arnold has said — even though that is exactly what UH officials can tell us about why Akana is gone … zilch.

Guys miss the team picture all the time. But Akana’s omission from the photo, taken Monday, reported today by Brian McInnis and Ferd Lewis, isn’t because he was getting his car fixed or dealing with a family issue … or, as Arnold explained his earlier absence from a game, because Akana was on the recruiting trail.

Actually, Akana won’t likely be doing any recruiting or coaching for UH for at least the rest of this season. And even though a 30-day suspension that no one can tell us exists was scheduled to end the day before the start of the Big West tournament, don’t expect Akana back then either.

What led to this? UH officials — you guessed it — can’t say. But you understand why they can’t when you learn what it is: Multiple sources have told the Star-Advertiser that it has to do with adding something to an official document, related to paperwork involved in recruiting Missouri transfer Stefan Jankovic.

This is something the NCAA is likely interested in, potentially imposing sanctions and drastically lengthening the timeline of resolution.

UH athletic director Ben Jay would not comment Tuesday, beyond saying, "It is a serious personnel matter."

The "serious" modifier is new — if not obvious to all, since Akana has missed the past four games and eight of the past 10.

And NCAA involvement would take it beyond just "personnel" and could impact the entire program.

It appears Akana might have made a bad, one-time mistake. Hopefully it is one from which he can bounce back, especially considering he has never been involved in any kind of NCAA infraction in his 13-year college coaching career.

When we look at the win-loss column for the Rainbow Warriors, the team is 13-6 with Akana on the bench and 6-2 when he isn’t.

But while the winning percentage is better when he’s not around, who is to say he wouldn’t have contributed something that could have made a difference in the 60-56 loss to UC Irvine last Thursday? Especially when you consider he coaches the guards, and in this game the Rainbow Warriors’ backcourt players made 5-for-21 shots and had just four assists to go with five turnovers.

It’s certainly not a positive to be missing a coach this long, and heading into the home stretch of a good season. There’s still legitimate hope for success in the Big West tournament, where a championship comes with an NCAA Tournament berth.

But if UH is going to earn its first dance ticket since 2002 it will have to do it with a short-handed coaching staff — another indicator that Akana’s extended absence is far from nothing.

On the heels of the football team going through its entire 2013 season without fired offensive coordinator Aaron Price and the offseason firing of popular baseball pitching coach Chad Konishi, this is the third controversy involving a UH assistant coach within the past year.

It is likely the most serious.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.